Assessment and technical monitoring of nutritional status of patients in intensive and intermediate care units Position paper of the Section Metabolism and Nutrition of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI)

At the time of admission to an intensive or intermediate care unit, assessment of the patients' nutritional status may have both prognostic and therapeutic relevance with regard to the planning of individualized medical nutrition therapy (MNT). MNT has definitely no priority in the initial treatment of a critically ill patient, but is often also neglected during the course of the disease. Especially with prolonged length of stay, there is an increasing risk of malnutrition with considerable prognostic macro- and/or micronutrient deficit. So far, there are no structured, evidence-based recommendations for assessing nutritional status in intensive or intermediate care patients. This position paper of the Section Metabolism and Nutrition of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) presents consensus-based recommendations for the assessment and technical monitoring of nutritional status of patients in intensive and intermediate care units. These recommendations supplement the current S2k guideline Clinical Nutrition in Intensive Care Medicine of the German Society for Nutritional Medicine (DGEM) and the DIVI.

Automated summary

There is a lack of structured and evidence-based recommendations for assessing and monitoring nutritional status in intensive or intermediate care patients. This position paper provides consensus-based recommendations from the Section Metabolism and Nutrition of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine, supplementing the current guidelines in this field.